Ask Ken: Check out some of my need-to-know Social Security trivia

People are always talking about retirement and Social Security, so here's some trivia to refresh your talking points.

Retirement and Social Security trivia

Social Security legislation was approved in 1935 with a minimum monthly benefit of $10 and the maximum of $85. The 2017 average monthly benefit check was $1,323, or about $15,881 a year. For someone reaching the full retirement age of 66 this year, the maximum benefit is $2,687 a month, or $32,244 annually. If you wait to claim until age 70, the maximum monthly benefit is $3,538, or $42,456 a year.

Annual Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) were first initiated in 1972, are based on the Consumer Price Index for the July/Aug./Sept. quarter of the previous year. In 2018, the COLA expected increase is about 2 percent, the largest increase since 2012.

Social Security was designed to replace about 38 percent of the worker’s average preretirement income and there were no provisions for disabilities.

The first Social Security number, 055-09-0001, was assigned to John David Sweeney, who died in 1974. At 61, he was too young to collect any Social Security retirement benefits.

Ida May Fuller, the first Social Security check beneficiary, began receiving $22.54 a month in January 1940.

In the 1930s and 1940s, more than 40,000 people claimed 078-05-1120 as their number. That was the number printed on the sample cards put in a line of wallets manufactured by E.H. Ferree. That number belonged to the company secretary Hilda Whitcher who said she couldn’t understand why people started using it. Whitcher was eventually issued a new number, but only after being questioned by the FBI.

More than 454 million numbers have been issued, with about 5.5 million new numbers assigned every year. Before they were randomized in 2011, the first three digits were numbers assigned geographically, with the lowest numbers in the Northeast and highest in the Northwest.

You can request a new Social Security number if you are a victim of identity theft, if your life is endangered or if you have religious or cultural objections to certain numbers.

If you earned average wages and retired at 65 in 1980, it took 2.8 years of benefits payments to recover the value of their payroll taxes. For workers who retired in 2003, it will take 17.4 years. And for workers who retire in 2020, it will take 21.6 years.

You need to accumulate at least 40 work credits to qualify for benefits, which normally takes 10 years. In 2018 you must have $1320 in a quarter to receive a qualified credit.

Your benefits are based on the income earned in your 35 highest-earning working years.

Your monthly benefit will increase 8 percent a year for every year you defer taking Social Security up to age 70.

Now that you have enough extra information to play Social Security trivia, I suggest going to www.SSA.gov and sign up for a free account and get the specific information regarding your Social Security benefits.

For more info, please go to the United States Social Security Administration website www.SSA.gov, fill out their contact form on their website to email them, and or call them at 1-800-772-1213.